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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal grooming (also called
titivating and preening) is the
art of cleaning, grooming, and maintaining parts of the body. In
animals, it is a species-typical behavior that
is controlled by neural circuits in the brain.

In humans

Grooming in humans typically
includes bathroom
activities such as primping: washing and cleaning the hair, combing it to extract tangles, and styling. It can also include cosmetic care
of the body, such as shaving.

In
animals

Individual animals
regularly clean themselves and put their fur, feathers or other skin coverings in good order. This
activity is known as personal grooming, a form of hygiene. Extracting foreign objects such
as insects, leaves, dirt or twigs, are all forms of
grooming. Among animals, birds
spend considerable time preening their feathers. This is done to remove ectoparasites, keep them in good
aerodynamic condition, and waterproof them. To do that, they use
the preen oil secreted by the uropygial
gland, the dust of down feathers, or other means such as
dust-bathing or anting. During oil spills, animal conservationists that rescue penguins sometimes dress them
in knitted
sweaters to stop them from preening and thereby ingesting the
mineral oil which is
poisonous. Felidae cats are
well known for their extensive grooming. One reason advanced for
such grooming is to remove all traces of blood and other matter so
as to not alert prey with the scent. Cats groom so much that they
often produce hairballs
from the fur they ingest.